Ceiling fans are conventionally suspended from a ceiling with a hanger assembly. A known hanger assembly includes a hanger bracket securable to an overhead support member such as an electrical junction box. The hanger bracket includes slots, which receive screws for engagement to the junction box. A ball socket is formed in the hanger bracket. A ball or head is supported in the ball socket for swivel motion. An upper end of a down rod is removably attached to the ball, such as with a pin assembly or a threaded engagement assembly, and depends downwardly therefrom to a lower end adapted to be secured to a ceiling fan. A canopy, generally in the shape of an inverted dome, includes a central opening through which the down rod passes and an upper rim, which encircles the peripheral sidewall of the hanger bracket.
Conventional ceiling fan hanger assemblies, while generally acceptable for depending ceiling fans from horizontal overhead surfaces, are not entirely acceptable for depending ceiling fans from sloped overhead surfaces. This is due, at least in part, to the geometry of the socket and its interrelationship to the ball and the down rod attached thereto and the inevitable physical interaction between the down rod and the socket, which limits the angle of the down rod relative to the socket. In some instances the angle of the down rod relative to the socket is so steep that it causes the down rod to contact the rim of the hanger bracket that forms the socket, which can result in an annoying rubbing sound and often a coincident squeaking sound as a fan suspended from the down rod rotates and oscillates from side to side. Even slight oscillating fan movements can cause an irritating rubbing/squeaking sound between the down rod and the socket.
Furthermore, in order to suspend a ceiling fan from a sloped overhead surface the junction box to which the hanger bracket is attached to must be precisely aligned so that the hanger bracket is precisely aligned when it is secured to the junction box. It has been noticed that although careful consideration is often given to ensure that the junction box is properly positioned for accepting a hanger bracket from which to suspend a ceiling fan from a sloped overhead surface, adjustments to the junction box must be made in most cases, which is difficult, time consuming, and frustrating. Although skilled artisans have devoted limited efforts toward adapters for use with hanger brackets that are specifically designed to depend a ceiling fan from a sloped overhead surface, these adapters are difficult to construct, expensive, and difficult to install.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.